54 



important point in two or three respects they must be of the 

 right size and quality, and be fresh, and still sufficiently 

 tough to stand throwing. A trout will always prefer a 

 worm which is perfectly fresh from the earth, if you give 

 him his choice of half-a-dozen, but, unfortunately, the finest 

 angler cannot throw a very tender worm up-stream with 

 any satisfaction to himself, as it must invariably break and 

 become useless after a few casts. The first thing to be 

 considered is the size and the kind of worm best suited to 

 the angler's purpose. And here it may not be out of place 

 to state a fact unknown to many fishermen, that in small 

 streams a green worm, usually contemptuously discarded by 

 the worm-picker, will any time kill more trout than a red one. 

 The green worm is not to be recommended for large rivers, or 

 even those of moderate volume, but in tributary becks and the 

 upper parts of rivers you may safely leave the red worms in 

 favour of the green ones. The worms best suited for fishing 

 in the majority of Yorkshire rivers are the small dark-blue 

 headed worms which have not bred. Brandlings are always 

 good, but they are very tender and cannot well be 

 toughened. A period of two days is sufficiently long to 

 toughen a worm for all practical purposes, and at the end 

 of that time he has not lost much of his vitality and is, to 

 the eye of a trout, no doubt a fairly fresh worm. Shun all 

 preparations of flax for toughening, as they rob the worm 

 not only of his vitality but his gloss. There is no need to 

 keep a worm for a week, and though such a worm will kill, 

 even if kept for very much longer periods, a bright, lively 

 worm is at all times much more likely to tickle the cupidity 

 of a trout. 



The quickest and simplest way of preparing worms for 

 the angler is to wash them in a little clean cold water 

 for about three minutes, immediately after taking them from 

 the ground ; then put some dry moss in an earthenware pot, 



